R. Lee Ermey Interview

Full Metal Jacket's Gunny Wants You To Get In Shape

Gunny also likes the iron, but none of those namby-pamby weightlifting machines for him.

“I have free weights,” he said. “If I had to get in the truck and go to the gym and share equipment with 20 other sweaty people, I wouldn’t do it. My little weight room is right here in the house. I do not like machines. I think they defeat the purpose and don’t give us a good reading of how much we’re really lifting. I think free weights are the only way to go.”

I’m also an avid runner and have a home gym full of just free weights. I’d say something about having a man-crush on Ermey, if I didn’t fear that he’d unscrew my head and sh*t down my neck for saying so.

What About Food?

“I don’t call it a diet, I call it managing your food intake. Just don’t gorge yourself. That’s the problem we have in America is that everyone wants to gorge themselves.” Besides the veggies, Gunny likes his meat, but he wants it lean and wild, so he shoots it himself.

Ermey grew up hunting. The second son of six boys, he says his mother never needed to buy meat or fish when he was growing up. He’d carry his shotgun during his mile walk to the school bus and shoot game along the way, then stash the gun and the game, go to school, and see if he could bag more game on the walk home.

He still hunts, and has a particular taste for wild buffalo.

“I shoot the old ones that don’t breed anymore,” Ermey told me. “I will bring this meat home and grind it up and put it in the freezer and it is the leanest, healthiest and most delicious meat you can put down your neck.” He likes deer meat, too.

Overall, Ermey says that to be successful in this life, you need to “Stop being such a wimp. Back when I was a boy, if somebody started pushing me around, I felt justified in defending myself. I would punch him right in the snot locker in a New York minute.”

Things are different now.

“Everyone’s a winner,” he said. “Everyone gets a trophy. So now kids say why should I even put in any effort? Why should I even show up? Just mail me my trophy.”

God’s not going to miracle your ass into good shape. Listen to Gunny, and take some pride in yourself.